Secret Revealed
by svvya
Summary: Kyo accidentally reveals the Sohma curse to the whole school and has to face the consequences.  Alternating Kyo to Tohru POV KyoTohru romance
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket, I am merely a fan writing for entertainment :-)

-Chapter 1-

Kyo

"Stupid. Stupid! STUPID!" With each word Kyo punched the brick wall of Kaibara High School as hard as he could. "How could I be so stupid?!" He fell to his knees and put his head in his hands, he was fighting an internal struggle. He couldn't blame Tohru, he could never blame her. He couldn't blame Akito… The curse took care of that. The only one to blame was himself. Of course it was his fault, he was the cat. The cat ruined everything. He could practically hear Akito's sneering voice mocking him. He would let out a cruel laugh and say, "Of course, of course. I never expected anything less from the _cat_."

Just a few minutes ago, Kyo had accidentally revealed the secret of the Zodiac Curse to the whole school. He shut his eyes, as if that would help block out the incident playing over and over in his mind. It didn't.

"_Kyo-kun, what are you having for lunch today?" A peppy as usual voice penetrated Kyo's thoughts. He looked over at the smiling face of Tohru and couldn't hold back a small smile himself. Over the past few weeks Kyo had been getting a lot more comfortable around the people at the high school. The orange haired teen was happier and actually thought he could fit in with normal people… And felt he was getting closer to Tohru. _

"_Er, I'm not sure what I'll have. What about you?" Kyo watched Tohru look at the choices and then walk forward towards a small vat that was probably filled with soup. _

"_I might have thi-i-i-" Tohru stuttered as she slipped and started to fall backwards. Without thinking, without even considering the consequences, Kyo reached out to catch her. "Kyo, no!" He heard Tohru's voice, but didn't realize what she was trying to tell him until he disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared as an orange cat. _

_"What the Hell?" Kyo heard a loud (Or maybe it was just loud because the hall had suddenly become silent) female voice from somewhere behind him that he knew came from Arisa Uotoni, one of Tohru's best friends. "I'd like to know what is going on also," a softer voice said. That was undoubtedly Saki Hanajima, Tohru's other best friend. "I- Um- Ah-" Tohru stammered. Kyo could see her looking down at him helplessly._

_Noise suddenly broke out again and people were pushing through the crowd to see what the commotion was. He heard a fe voices, most saying things to the effect of, "Where's Kyo? Did he... Turn into a cat?" Tohru was saved from further explination by a loud whistle and Haru Sohma's loud voice saying, "Yo! Everyone look away from the cat." The crowd quieted again, Haru hardly ever shouted unless he went over to his black side of course._

Tohru had reacted faster than Kyo did, grabbed him and his clothes, and carried them outside to a place where no one was, but it was too late, everyone had seen. He assumed that Yuki was probably calling Hatori now to come and erase everyone's memory, but he didn't know how they would manage to keep everyone in the cafeteria.

"Kyo!" Kyo blinked and raised his head, remembering that Tohru was there. She was sitting on her knees next to him, her hands in her lap were twisting nervously. She sounded slightly frantic, it was probably because of his meltdown and the fact that his hand was bleeding pretty badly. Kyo winced, seeing his hand made him aware of the fact that it hurt. He looked away and said gruffly, "Sorry." He turned his head at the sound of approaching footsteps and saw an annoyed silver haired boy.

"Nice going, Cat," Yuki said with obvious distaste. Yuki's voice was relaxed, but he had already adopted the familiar fighting stance he used so often around Kyo. "Akito is coming with Hatori, to say he's angry would be an understatement. You really screwed things up this time."

Kyo jumped to his feet, replacing his expression with an angry grimmace, and yelled, "Shut up and stay away from me!" Akito was coming, Yuki was right (Although he would never admit it), he really had screwed things up. He prepared to have the fight with Yuki that was no doubt coming... If only he could win. That would make the situation a little less awful.

"Kyo, your hand..." Tohru said feebly, as if that would stop him.

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More next time. Sorry it's kinda short :-P I'll try to get the next one up soon. Tell me what you think, please


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Baset- I am merely a fan :-)

-Chapter 2-

Tohru

"Kyo, your hand..." Tohru said it quietly, feebly even, just wanting to stop the fight that was coming up. Even though she knew that Yuki and Kyo would always fight, she still tried to stop them everytime they did. She frowned, her mind wandering from the fight, Yuki and Kyo were just exchanging insults now ("Damn Rat! Hurry up and fight me!" "Got some control, Cat, this is your fault not mine."). She could hardly believe Akito was coming. He would force Hatori to erase everyone's memory including-

"Hana-Chan! Uo-Chan!" Tohru burst out and then shut her mouth and blushed immediatly after. "S-sorry," she said as both Kyo and Yuki were looking at her. Kyo looked a little disgruntled, like he was about to take a swing at Yuki (which he probably was). "Will... Will their memories be erased too?" She had always hoped that they could find out about the Curse and keep their memories, but that didn't seem to be the case.

Yuki's face fell from the expressionless mask he was wearing to an expression of sadness. He dropped to the ground and sat cross legged, nodding slowly. "Yes, Honda-san," he sighed softly. "And... There's something else." His eyes met Tohru's and she bit her lip, there was something there, something that he was going to tell her that was troubling. "Akito said... He's going to erase you're memory too."

"No!" Kyo yelled, forgetting that he was supposed to be angry at Yuki. "It was my fault, not hers!" He put his face in his hands and groaned.

Tohru's gaze had dropped to the ground. She knew she was kidding herself in thinking she could always live with the knowledge about the Sohma Curse, but she didn't like to think about when it would happen... She never thought it would be so soon. "Akito-san wants my memory erased?" She spoke barely above a whisper, willing her eyes not to fill with tears. She didn't want to leave Yuki and Kyo, she didn't want to forget all the time she had spent with them. She didn't want to forget how close she was getting to Kyo...

Tohru was pulled back from her thoughts by another yell from Kyo. "No. No! He can't!" Yuki grit his teeth and closed his eyes. "Are you forgetting? He can. Akito can do anything he-"

"Talking about me, Yuki?" A cold voice inturrupted Yuki and the three quickly looked to see Akito Sohma walking towards them. He was dressed up for the occasion in a formal suit. Tohru made a quick, polite bow in his direction and said, "Good afternoon, Akito-san." Tohru couldn't tell if she was heard, Akito's attention was focused on Kyo.

Both Kyo and Yuki looked as nervous as Tohru felt. Akito stopped and gave them an expectant look. The three sat down at Akito's feet, he always demanded that kind of respect, and Akito narrowed his eyes at Kyo and opened his mouth. His face had an unpleasant expression on it.

"Please!" Tohru said quickly before Akito could begin yelling at Kyo. "Please don't punish Kyo. I- I fell into him and he had no choice but to catch me. He didn't have time to move out of the way." She kept her eyes fixed on the ground, too afraid to see Akito's reaction to her words. She bit her lip, waiting for something, anything really to happen.

"You're telling me what to do?" Akito said in a dangerous whisper. Tohru shook her head a few times and stuttered, "N-No. I was just-" Akito cut her off, "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Tohru turned her gaze up at Akito's face, trying not to look scared. "Now," Akito continued, his voice steadily rising in volume and in anger. "You think you can tell me what to do with _my_ Zodiac?!" There was a sudden cracking noise and Tohru's head jerked to the side and her eyes watered from the force that Akito smacked her with.

Tohru's hand flew to her face and she let out a small, "Ah..." Of pain and surprise. "No!" Tohru blinked away the tears that were threatening to spill onto her face and looked over at Kyo. "Damn you!" He was standing up now, as a matter of fact, so was Yuki. They both looked outraged, fear was apparently forgotten.

"No? You want me to stop?" Akito's voice was alarmingly calm now. "Akito," Yuki's voice was struggling to stay calm, "don't. Just think-" Akito let out an unpleasant laugh. "Don't? Don't what? This?"

Tohru let out a small shriek of pain as Akito grabbed her hair, yanked her up into a kneeling position and pulled her hair back so she was forced to look at him again, and slapped her again. "I hope you know," Akito said softly, Tohru didn't know if Kyo and Yuki could even hear what he was saying, "If anything happens to Kyo, it's your fault."

"H-happens?" Tohru didn't want anything to happen to Kyo, the whole reason she told Akito it was her fault was so that nothing would happen to kyo- So that he wouldn't get punished.

"What's going on here?!" Tohru turned her head as best she could and saw Uo-chan and Hana-chan standing a few feet away and were looking at Akito like they were ready to kill him.


	3. Chapter 3

Okay- I've read the most recent english Furuba- 17 I think- but I'm basically leaving out most spoiler type stuff so as not to ruin it for other people :-)

I don't own Fruits Basket and all that- I'm just a fan

-Chapter 3-

Kyo

Kyo stood stock still, tying to figure out something to do. Akito was hurting Tohru and was no doubt going to hurt her friends. Speaking of Tohru's friends, they were walking towards Akito, murderous looks in their eyes. "Let go of Tohru," Hana-chan said firmly. She looked calm, her hands were clasped together in front of her casually, but Kyo saw her knuckles were white. Uo on the other hand was not trying to disguise her anger. Her hands were balled into fists at her side and her eyes were narrowed angrily in Akito's direction.

"You mean this?" Kyo saw Tohru wince as Akito pulled her a little higher by her hair to show she was what he was talking about.

"Stop." Akito's eyebrows raised in amusement. Hana walked over to Akito and grabbed his arm, pushing it down so Tohru wasn't being held up by her hair anymore.

"Hana-chan, Uo-chan-" Tohru looked up at her friends, her eyes were filled with tears- tears of gratitude most likely. She opened her mouth to say something else, but Hana beat her to it. "Can you keep it down, please Tohru? Your waves just sound like screaming. Actually, all three of you do," she waved her hand vaugely at Kyo, Tohru, and Yuki. "Now, we are going to kill whoever this is, just relax now."

"And you two," Uo said, pointing at Kyo and Yuki with one hand and pulling Akito away from Tohru with the other, "tend to her wounds."

Her words put them in motion. Kyo grabbed Tohru's arm and pulled her to her feet. "You okay, Tohru?" Tohru's left cheek was slightly swollen, but other than the she looked fine. She nodded and said, "Is Akito going to hurt them?"

"They should be fine, Honda-san." Both Kyo and Tohru jumped, Yuki had walked up next to her silently. "If Akito hurt them there would be too many questions. One or two people could go unnoticed," he looked over at Kyo as he said that, they both knew Kyo's punishment was still coming, "but not four."

It seemed that Yuki was right: Akito had stopped paying attention to Hana and Uo and was now looking at Kyo again. "Hey!" Uo said angrily. She had her arms crossed and looked extremely put off about being ignored when she was going to beat him up. Still ignoring her, Akito said to Kyo, "So, you're so weak you had to have a couple of girls to protect you and your-"

"Shut up!" Kyo put his hands over his ears and tightly closed his eyes, thinking that he was showing how weak he was- the couldn't even listen to Akito call him weak- or listen to him finish his sentance. He was going to say "your girlfriend." Kyo loved Tohru, but he couldn't tell her that, she deserved so much better than him... He was a monster. He couldn't protect her- not if he had to protect her from Akito. But maybe...

Suddenly something snapped. If he didn't do something now Akito was going to keep hurting Tohru, and everyone for that matter. He opened his eyes and let his hands drop to his side. Akito was still talking, "-I'm right. You're weak, you're a monster, you don't deserve to walk the same streets as even these... _People_." He looked with distaste at Uo, Hana, and Tohru.

"Don't look at her like that." Kyo wasn't shouting now, a strange calm had come over him now that he was sure of what he was going to do. He pushed Hana aside, not roughly, but she was in his way, and she fell into Yuki, who dissapeared just a Kyo had before and reapeared as a rat. "A... Rat?" He heard her say. "I should have guessed..." Uo walked over and said, "He's an animal too?"

Kyo reached Akito in three steps, pulled back his fist, and drove it into Akito's face as hard as he could. Much to his surprise, Akito fell to the ground. "He's not as tough as he acts," Kyo muttered. "I should have done that a long time ago."

"K-Kyo...? He felt someone touch his arm and turned to see Tohru.

A loud, "Oh! God! Cover yourself!" Stopped him from saying anything to Tohru. From the disgusted sounds behind him, Kyo guessed that Yuki had become a human again. "I want someone to explain what is going on, _now_." Uo had her hands on her hips.

"Fine, but let's get away from Akito, he could wake up any second," Yuki said, finishing buttoning his shirt and looking down at the still unmoving Akito. "That was a really stupid thing to do Ca-... Kyonkichi." He refrained from calling Kyo Cat and his eyes weren't filled with all the dislike they usually were when talking to Kyo.

"Kyonkichi?" An amused Hana said. "More on that later, let's go." Kyo shot a glare at Yuki, but it was only half-hearted, he was actually surprised that Yuki wasn't being more specific about his stupidity as he always was, but he wasn't argueing, he just wanted to get away from there and avoid thinking about the consequenses he would have to face soon.

"Well, hurry up." Uo and Hana had already started walking towards the building. The other three started to follow and Tohru folded her hands behind her back and said softly, sounding a little embarrased, "That was really brave of you, Kyo."

He looked away, embarassed but pleased at the same time, and said, "Thanks, but it was stupid really and there'll be consequences. You know Akito..." Kyo didn't want Toru thinking he was so great, he was a monster after all... One good act (was it even good?) didn't change that.

He looked up a the sky, which was a pleasant blue with a few fluffy clouds gliding across it, and sighed. But when he looked over to Tohru he frowned. She looked upset all of a sudden. "Hey, what's the matter?"


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket- I am merely a fan.

I revised the end of 3 a bit- i don't know if you can tell, but just telling you all xD

Thanks for all of your support everyone! I didn't even expect 1 review let alone 6+! And so many people have been favoriting me and stuff! Thanks!!

Hugs everyone

-Chapter 4-

Tohru

_"And there'll be consequences."_ Those simple words, just meant to make Kyo seem less heroic, because (or so Tohru thought) he was just being modest, made Tohru think of what Akito had said. _"If anything happens to Kyo, it's your fault." _And for some reason, Tohru believed that. Just the way he said it- He was so sure and so accusing. Tohru _had_ fallen into him and that was the whole reason Akito came...

"Hey, what's the matter?" Tohru looked up into Kyo's concerned face and tried to smile as best she could and said in a happy voice, "Nothing's wrong, I'm fine! Thank you for your concern."

Kyo nodded slowly and said uncertainly, "Sure." He looked away and then met Tohru's eyes again. "You know, Akito wont hurt you anymore, you don't have to worry."

When he looked away again Tohru smiled for real this time. Kyo thought that's why she was upset, he was so caring, even if h didn't always show it. "Hey!" She suddenly said, breaking the awkward silence. She took Kyo's hand and then walked over to Yuki and took his too, pulling them up by hana and Uo with her. "How did you two get away from the cafeteria?"

"When that tall guy came it was easy to slip out," Uo said. "He started doing something that made people pass out so we decided it would be best to leave. Haru and someone with long white hair were standing outside of the door, but we managed to slip past them."

Yuki stopped short. "Long white hair? Did he prance around and have a really arrogant manner?" Uo thought for a minute and then nodded. Yuki groaned and said, "Crap, that's my brother, can we go inside a way that we don't have to go near the cafeteria? Oh, and you two will have to pretend you dont remember what happened earlier, any of it, or else your memories will be erased."

While Uo said something about wnting answers again, Tohru frowned. She had forgotten that Hatori was there. Would she have her memory erased right then? It seemed so sudden and informal, what would she remember and what would she forget? Of course she would have to forget the Curse, but would she still remember living with Shigure, Kyo, and Yuki? Would she even remember knowing them?

"Tohru, is something wrong?" Tohru looked up to see a concerned Hana. The other three were still discussing Yuki's brother and Hatori. ("What's wrong with your brother?" "He's just an idiot... but he is the one who gave Kyo the-" "Shut up!") "Is it about the tall, dark stranger?" Hana continued.

Tohru tried to muster a small smile and nodded. Then, speaking of tall, dark strangers, Hatori was striding toward them, looking tired and worn out. His face was paler than normal and his black hair was a mess.

"Yuki, Kyo, Tohru, hello," he said when they reached each other. The three said hello and Hatori looked at Hana and Uo and continued, "Are these your friends?"

"Ah, yes!" Tohru said quickly. "This is Saki Hanajima ("Hello") and Arisa Uotani ("Yo")."

"Pleased to meet you. My name is Hatori Sohma, I'm Yuki and Kyo's cousin. I was just dropping off Momiji's lunch... Yuki, Kyo, Tohru, may I have a private word?" The three followed Hatori a little ways away from Uo and Hana.

"I am sorry for causing you so much trouble, Hatori-san," Tohru said as soon as they were out of Hana and Uo's earshot. She looked down at the ground, not wanting to face Hatori, this was her faut after all and had made him do so much unessasary work.

"It's alright, it was an accident... I just wanted to make sure Akito found you, he went looking for you when he got here."

They all nodded and Kyo said, "He found us all right... But, um, nevermind that. What about- What about Tohru's memory?" Tohru noticed he avoided eye contact with anyone when he said that and he even looked a little upset.

"I don't want to do it now, I'll come over to Shigure's tomorrow night. It should be easier on the weekend." Weekend? What day was it again? Right- it was Friday. Tohru nodded numbly, almost wishing it just would happen suddenly and she wouldn't have to dread it coming. "Now that everyone's memory has been taken care of I'm going to be on my way. Where's Akito?"

Kyo cleared his throat uncomfortably. "He's, um, behind the school. We have to get to class." Yuki and Tohru nodded in agreement and they all started walking away, Hana and Uo following them before Hatori could say anything else and ducked into a random empty classroom, shutting and locking th door behind them.

"Now will someone tell us what's going on?" Uo and Hana sat down and looked at Kyo, Tohru, and Yuki expectantly

"Well..." Yuki began while they all sat down too. "Our family," he motioned to he and Kyo, "is possesed by spirits of the Zodiac..."

Sorry It's short :-P- next will be from the point of view of Hatori because it's nessecary and I want to xD


	5. Chapter 5

-Chapter 5-

Hatori

Hatori watched the five friends hurry into a classroom and smiled a little sadly. Kyo, Yuki, and Tohru had run off from him pretty quickly, but this time was upsetting what with the fact that Tohru's memory was going to be erased, and he remembered being that young; there were always places he had to be running off to. He turned towards the door and tried to remember where Kyo said Akito. he thought he said in the back of the school.

Hatori walked slowly, looking around at the mostly deserted halls, frowning slightly. He didn't want to erase Tohru's memory- her presence made everyone happier, even Kyo and Yuki were getting along better. It was also nice to go over to Shigure's house and be able to see the floor. She was one of the few people it seemed that Isuzu didn't show complete coldness to, but now that she wouldn't remember anything about them (he thought it would be easier to make her think she had only lived with the Sohmas a month or two. If she forgot how close she was to Yuki and Kyo, there would be less chance she would rediscover the secret.) he hated to think how it would affect everyone, himself included... And she seemed like if there was anyone who could brake the curse, it was Tohru Honda.

He sighed as he opened the door to the outside and was greeted by a pleasant breeze, but hardly noticed it, Hatori didn't notice the small things like that much anymore, and he was more focused on finding Akito.

"Hatori!" Hatori turned to see his old friend Mayu (Who was a teacher at the school) who he had just come back into contact with recently... Thanks to Shigure, he reluctantly admitted.

"Mayu-chan? Hello." He reached out his hand for the woman to shake, as he couldn't hug her, but was still looking around for Akito.

"What are you doing here?" Mayu asked, putting a bag she was holding on her arm and shook his hand.

Hatori explained about him having to drop off Momiji's lunch and then said, "I'm sorry, I have to go, but if you see Ayame, will you tell him to just wait by the car and not cause trouble?"

Mayu made a mock salute and said, "Sure thing."

"Thanks." Hatori continued walking and gave Mayu a small wave. He was feeling a little happier from seeing her- until he saw Akito.

"A-Akito?!" Hatori ran over to Akito and kneeled down next to him. Akito was sitting, leaning against the wall with his hand on his face, there was blood on his hands and the front of his shirt. "What happened?"

"That damn Cat _punched me_!" Akito's voice sounded outraged, but he looked like he was in pain.

"Akito, move your hand, I need to see if your nose is broken." Hatori cautiously towards his hand to pull it down, but Akito shook his head.

"I can wait until we get back to the main house. Oh, and Hatori," Hatori looked down at Akito as he bent to pick him up to carry him back to the car. He raised his eyebrows questioningly to show he was listening and Akito continued, "don't erase that Honda girl's memory just yet. Instead, when you go over there tomorrow bring Yuki and Kyo to the main house... _Just_ Yuki and Kyo. Then erase her memory the next day." There was something about the tone of his voice... Like he was planning something.

Truthfully, Hatori would have liked nothing better than to have left Akito there, but the cure wouldn't let him, he had to obey Akito- he had to obey God. So he just nodded and started towards the car. He considered asing what had happened, but didn't want to incurr Akito's wrath.

When they got to the car a bored looking Ayame was leaning against it. "Tori-san! He said happily, bounding over to him, but stopping when he saw Akito. "My, God! What happened?"

"There was some trouble, Kyo was involv-"

Hatori was cut off by a dramatic gasp from Aya and he said with concern that might or might not have been real, "Was my dear brother involved in any way?"

Hatori shook his head and said, "Not that I know of, he might have been there."

"He was there," Akito cut in, "and he didn't do anything to stop that Cat."

"I'll be sure to give him a stern talking to!" Aya said, opening the door of the car for Akito.

Hatori sighed and put Akito into the car. "Please don't. I'll be right back, I have to convey a message." Before Aya could ask what it was about Hatori was already back inside the school. He caught them in the hall changing classes, careful to not let any of the many highschool girls run into him, no one seemed to remember he was there earlier... Or the reason he was there for that matter, that was a sign he did his job well. "Kyo, Tohru, Yuki." He tapped them on the shoulder to get their attention and said, "I have some news."

"Hello again, Hatori-san," Tohru said, giving him a smile. "It's good news I hope?"

Hatori could only muster a shrug, it was good for the moment, but the next day everything would be the same anyway. "Aikito said instead of..." He looked around at all of the people, "what was previously planned for tomorrow evening, you two," he pointed at Yuki and Kyo, "are supposed to come to the main house to see Akito. But only you two."

Tohru clapped her hands together and said with so much enthusiasm that people looked over at her, "Really?! That's great!"

Yuki grinned and even Kyo cracked a smile. "Good," was all he said.

Hatori nodded once and then continued, "But the previous plans are moving to the next day."

The three's faces visibly fell. "Oh..." He heard Tohru say, but he was already walking back to the car, he didn't want to see them after he broke the news about Tohru's memory being erased the second time, he felt too guilty. He reached the car, sighed again and got in to face the rest of the day with Akito.


	6. Chapter 6

-Chapter 6-

Kyo

_No. No! NO! _That's all Kyo could think. For one amazing second he thought Tohru would be able to keep her memories and that she would be able to keep living with them. Then, of course, all of his happiness was sucked away by a simple sentance.

"Kyo?" He was suddenly aware that Tohru was holding onto his wrist. "Kyo, we have to get to class." She was blinking a lot more than normal then looked away and Kyo saw a tear roll down her cheek. Taking a deep breath, he took Tohru's chin in one of his hands as gently as he could, turned her face towards his, and wiped off the tear with his other hand.

"Look," Kyo started, trying to find the right words, "I don't..." He looked over at Yuki who was leaning against the wall a little ways away- Either giving them privacy or he was impatient to get to class. "_We_ don't have a lot of time left with you. Let's cut the rest of our classes today and go do something."

"Cut class?" Tohru looked a little confused, Kyo couldn't figure out what about, he knew she knew what cutting class was because she'd convinced him against it more than once.

Kyo nodded and said, "We could see if Momiji and Haru want to come, the second years are still at lunch, and if we hurry we could catch them and see if they want to go to lunch or something." He realized that he was still touching her face and pulled his hand away quickly, broke their eye contact, and focused on a spot on the wall and acted interested in it.

After a few seconds of silence Tohru said quietly and a little uncertainly, "Okay. Let's cut class."

"Great." Kyo looked back at her and smiled. "Yo, Yuki."

"What?" Yuki walked back over to them and Kyo tried to think of a way to actually talk to Yuki without insilting him.

"Tohru and I are cutting the rest of today's classes, you want to come? Just blow off Student Council, we're going to get lunch."

Yuki blinked, probably out of surprise that Tohru was cutting class, but in Kyo's opinion he was just too slow to understand what was going on. Finally after a minute Yuki nodded and said, "Sure."

Kyo nodded and turned in the direction of the cafeteria. "The door's that way." Kyo couldn't help but roll his eyes at that obvious statement from Yuki.

"We're going to go and get Haru and Momiji," Tohru offered, souding a tiny bit happier than before. Kyo smiled, knowing that she was also trying to avoid a fight between Yuki and Kyo.

"We're skipping class?! Fun!" Momiji's innocent smile was really pissing Kyo off for some reason. Maybe it was because he was so angry and upset, even if he wasn't showing it.

"Keep your voice down Momiji," Haru said pleasantly. He and Momiji were following Yuki, Kyo, and Tohru outside, they said they would explain everything once they got to the restaraunt.

"I can just cook if you want," Tohru said, frowning. "I don't want you to spend money on me when I could just cook it."

"No." Yuki and Kyo at the same time. They had already decided to pay for Tohru's lunch, it was the least they could do for everything she had done for them.

Tohru fell silent, still frowning. Kyo looked over at her worried face and sighed to himself. Even a sad Tohru was better than having no Tohru at all. He didn't know what he was going to do without her in the house to cook meals that weren't considered health hazards, without her there to stop he and Yuki from killing each other, without her there to make him feel the smallest bit better about himself. _"You have an umeboshi on your back too, Kyo... I'm very happy just to share a meal together!... I know I'm selfish, but I want to eat., study, go home together!"_

Kyo shook his head, those memories would just hurt him later. He felt like he needed to shut them all out, not remember them. Not now.

"What do you all want to eat?" Kyo nearly jumped, he had been oblivious the whole time they entered the restaraunt and sat down even. He looked down at the menu and tried to decide on something quickly. He had unknowingly sat down closest to where the waitress was standing so he picked the first thing he saw. "The, uh, Tororo Soba and just a water."

As soon as the waitress took everyone's orders and left, Momiji started bouncing up and down and saying, "Tell us why we're not at school, pleeeaaassse?"

Kyo tried his best to ignore Momiji's painfully happy voice as Yuki and Tohru explained what was happening, it was giving him a headache. He stayed silent for the most part, adding something here or there, but he didn't want to hear everything again. When the story was finally finished their food arrived. Kyo looked around at the others: Haru looked impassive as usual, but he was taking a lot of intrest in his food, Momiji looked the most upset of all. He wasn't touching his food at all, although he had whined so much when they tried to get him away from his food before. Yuki was frowning, and Tohru looked like she might cry again.

As Kyo sat there silently, trying to eat, he realized something: Tohru had to know how he felt. He had to find the courage to tell her he loved her.


	7. Chapter 7

Another different POV this time :-)

-Chapter 7-

Momiji

Momiji frowned and looked down at his turkey sandwich unhappily. Momiji wasn't one to frown. In fact, he almost always had a huge smile on his face, but this was too serious and sad to smile about. He didn't want Tohru's memory to be erased. She was so fun and nice and he loved her. Not that he was in love with her, but she was his family.

There had to be some way to turn this bad situation into a good one. He could always find a way to look on the bright side of things. Even when his mom's memory was erased he found a way to accept it, but this was just pointless. He didn't want to think about it now in fact...

"We don't have to!" Momiji exclaimed, standing up and smiling, happy he found an answer.

"Don't stand up so fast, you almost knocked the table over." Yuki was gripping the edge of the table to steady it.

Momiji said a quick apology before continuine in an overly happy (but it was just the right amount of happiness in his opinion) voice, "Don't you guys_ see_!?"

Kyo looked up from his food that he had seemed wholey concentrated on and glared at Momiji, "What are you so happy about?" He sounded the exact opposite of Momiji.

"Don't you get it?" He repeated. "We don't have to worry about this until tommorrow night at the earliest. Today it's not a problem!"

There was a sort of stunned silence, in the whole restaraunt (Momiji was talking pretty loudly) and then Kyo broke it by saying, "_That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard_." He went back to his food, looking like he was concentrating on something.

Tohru looked over at him looking a little confused and then turned to Momiji and said, "It's not so bad, what... What do you want to do?"

"Let's go to the pet shop!" He answered quickly, he had never been to a pet shop before and didn't think the others had (Except maybe Tohru) had before either.

"And that's the second stupidest thing I've ever heard," Kyo said, pushing away his plate of half eaten food, "because of the curse the animals would be all over all of us except Tohru and Haru."

"There are no cows at a pet store?" Haru asked, looking a little interested.

"No one wants a cow for a pet," Kyo said in a sour voice, his mood seemed to be getting worse and worse.

Haru shrugged and stood up. "I'm for it, the adults never let us, but there are none here, are there?" Yuki also agreed and they all looked at Tohru, knowing her decisoin would decide if Kyo came or not.

She looked back and forth between them and Kyo, probably sensing defeat, stood up and said grudgingly, "Fine, let's go... But if something bad happens, it's not my fault this time."

"Yay!" Momiji clapped his hands together and got a few more stares, but paid no mind to them, he never did. He grabbed Tohru's hand and started pulling her outside, but his smile faded a little when she saw she looked confused again. "What's the matter?" He asked, not slowing down his pace down the street.

Tohru shook her head and said softly, probably too softly for anyone to hear but Momiji, "Kyo said... His fault..." Then like she just realized someone else was there, "What?" She looked at Momij, blinked, and then smiled. "Sorry! I wasn't paying attention. What did you say?"

Now Momiji was confused. He couldn't tell what Tohru was talking about. Was she worried about Kyo? "Nothing, I didn't say anything... We're here! Will you loook at the rabbits with me?" He looked behind them and saw the other three a little ways away. Kyo and Haru were still argueing about cows at the pet shop ("Who wouldn't want a cow as a pet?" "Everyone! What's wrong with you?") and Yuki was watching with a mix of amusement and caution, a fight was the last thing they needed.

Momiji and Tohru giiggled and entered the store. "Oh! There they are!" He pulled Tohru over to a pen with two rabbits inside.

"They're so cute," Tohru said, kneeling down next to the pen. A large grey one was sleeping, but a smaller white rabbit hopped over to the edge of pen and looked at Momiji with what looked like intrest. "It looks like he likes you... Oh, right, of course he does."

They spent a little more time there, then Momiji jumped up, he had an idea. "Hatori never let me get a pet, but if I got him a fish maybe he'd let me get a rabbit!" He started off towards the back of the store and heard Tohru say, "Okay, I'm going to go over by Yuki..."

Momiji walked quickly through the rather large store, humming. "What do you mean you don't have cows here?" He stopped, seeing Haru leaning up against a counter and talking to a flustered looking girl.

"We- uh- they're too big to keep here," she answered, brushing some brown hair out of her face nervously. Momiji grinned, no one had probably asked why they didn't have cows there befrore, and started walking again.

But he stopped again when he heard Kyo's voice. Walking slower so Kyo wouldn't know he was there, he got close enough to see Kyo and make out what he was saying. He was sitting on the floor of the room that had four or five cats in cages and seemed to be talking to one of the cats.

"I mean, I have to tell her. If I don't tell her before I go and see Akito, I might not be in any condition to tell her before her memory is erased. I hurt Akito and he's going to hurt me back." Kyo sighed and put his finger through the bars of the cage and scratched the cat behind its ears. "But if I do tell her and she rejects me then I might regret that more than never telling her. She has a right to reject me, I shouldn't even tell her, but if she is upset by it, then she'll just forget it soon anyway. God, whatever happens I love her." He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. "Tohru." He said it softly and almost like a groan.

Momiji couldn't contain his excitement anymore. No matter how upset Kyo was, Momiji was so happy that he admitted he loved Tohru. "I knew it! I knew it!" He practically yelled and ran into the room.

Kyo jumped up to his feet and glared Momiji. "What the hell?!" He yelled, moving away from the cats as if to deny he had been near them. His face was a little red.

"You loooove T-" Kyo pushed his hand over Momiji's mouth with enough force to push him against the wall.

"Don't say _anything_. Were you spying on me?!" If looks could kill, Momiji would most definatly be dead. "Did anyone else hear me?"

Momiji shook his head without trying to talk, Kyo was scary when he was really angry.

"If I let go of your and you yell, I swear I'll rip out your tounge."

Momiji nodded and Kyo took his hand off Momiji's mouth. Momiji took a deep breath and said quickly, "You need to tell Tohru how you feel, all your worrying is making _her_ worry about _you_, and you two are a perfect match!"

"She's been worrying about me?" Kyo asked, looking worried himself.

Momiji nodded glad that Kyo wasn't mad at him anymore. "She doesn't want you to blame yourself for the thing that happened with Akito."

"Well who else is there to blame...?" Kyo stopped and looked at Momiji as if realizing who he was talking to for the first time. He hit Momiji over the head, hard, and said, "That's for spying on me. And don't tell Tohru what you heard."

Momiji nodded and then turned around, started running back towards the front of the store, and yelled, "Tohruuu! Kyo hit meee!"


	8. Chapter 8

-Chapter 8-

Tohru

"Aw… These little guys are so cute too!" Tohru was smiling and looking into a cage that had a few mice inside.

Yuki nodded and laughed. "They don't seem to have rats though."

"Uh huh, but-"

"Tohruuu! Kyo hit meee!" Tohru was interrupted by Momiji's voice ringing out through the store. He was running towards her like he always did when Kyo hit him. He looked upset and had a few tears in his eyes that she suspected were fake, he usually just cried to get attention... And it worked… "He hit me! He hit me!"

"What did I _just_ say about yelling?" An angry looking Kyo was following not far behind Momiji.

"Er, what did you just say about yelling?" Tohru asked patting Momiji on the head since she couldn't hug him in the store.

"I told him not to!" Kyo glared at Momiji, who was looking a little happier now. He turned to Tohru and his gaze softened, but only slightly, he looked he was trying to decide something. "I was just standing there and he started yelling some nonsense in my ear."

"It wasn't nonsense! I was tel-" Momiji stopped suddenly and threw a slightly nervous glance in Kyo's direction. "I was just talking to him!"

"Whatever. Are we leaving soon? It's about the time we get home from school." Kyo pointed up at a clock and, sure enough, it was 3 o' clock.

Tohru nodded quickly, suddenly nervous that they would al get in trouble for cutting class. "Yes! We should go then."

"I'll go get Haru," Momiji said cheerfully, walking over to the counter where Haru was still arguing with the woman.

When they came back Haru said, "She told you all to keep it down. The yelling is disrupting the other customers."

Momiji said another quick apology then grabbed Tohru's hand and pulled her out of the store at a run.

"Momiji, what's the rush?" Tohru asked when they were well ahead of the others.

"Well," Momiji said, talking quickly and finally slowing down some, "Kyo wants to talk to you, but I can't tell you what it's about, because I said I wouldn't, but you should ask him if he wants to talk, 'cuz he's too afraid to actually start the conversation and tell you what he wants to tell you." He took a deep breath and finished, "But you should probably wait to talk to him until he's not so mad at me, coz you know how he takes his anger out on other people."

Tohru nodded, not really understanding at all. After she had some time to sort out in her mind what Momiji said she asked slowly, "Kyo wants to talk me, but he's too... Afraid?" Kyo was hardly ever afraid... She had no idea what it could be. "Is it important?"

Momiji nodded enthusiastically. "Very!" He looked behind him at Kyo, Yuki, and Haru. Momiji and Tohru had stopped so they were catching up. "But remember, wait."

"Wait for what?" Kyo had caught up first, Kyo and Haru were still a little ways away. He was looking at Momiji with a faint trace if dislike.

"Don'tcha remember what we talked about earlier?" Momiji said easily. "I was reminding her to wait to be sad." He stuck his tounge out at Kyo and started off down the street again, leaving he and Tohru alone.

Tohru started following him, but Kyo put his hand on her shoulder, stopping her. And there it was again.

For a while now, Tohru's stomach would flip whenever Kyo touched her and wherever he touched her seemed to tingle... She couldn't figure it out.

"Tohru, will you wait with me for a minute?"

She nodded and they let Yuki and Haru walk ahead of them then Kyo cleared his throat and said as they started walking again, "Tohru... I need to- I- Do you-" He looked away, his face a little red. "I mean- I don't think I- But... I mean-" He made a sound crossed between a growl and a groan and said , still not meeting her eyes, "Nevermind." He looked back over, opened his mouth, and shut it again.

The uncomfortable silence that followed lasted until they reached the entrance to the inside Sohma houses. They said there goodbyes to Haru and Momiji and Kyo, Tohru, and Yuki started back to Shigure's house.

"How was school today?" Was the first thing the three heard when they walked into the house.

"Okay," Kyo said.

"Uneventful," Came from Yuki.

And Tohru just shrugged, not wanting to lie to Shigure, she had already caused enough trouble for everyone today.

His arms were crossed and he was standing in the middle of the hallway, blocking their way into the living room. "Don't bother lying, your teacher clalled wondering where you were and Yuki, someone from student council called because you missed a meeting."

Kyo opened his mouth for the first time since he failed to talk to Tohru, but Yuki stopped him.

"Shigure, now isn't the time to act like a parent. Besides, it was my fault. I didn't want Kyo to do anything else stupid, so I convinced him and Tohru to cut class, but I guess I shouldn't have. Sorry."

Shigure shrugged and looked over at Tohru. "You don't have to cook tonight,I'll order something." Yuki's comment about being a parent had made him drop the subject.

"Th-Thank you!" Tohru said, bowing quickly. "I'm going to go work on my homework then." She hurried up the stairs to her room, feeling guilty that Shigurie was doing something else for her after doing so much already.


	9. Chapter 9

It's important that the next chapter is just Kyo- so I'm having Tohru's POV in this one as well as Kyo's. Actually, after this you may not hear from Tohru for a few chapters... I dunno yet though :-P I've actually been thinking about how to write that last part and I thought it came out pretty good- Tell me what you all think.

Thanks again for everyone's support! You all rock:-)

-Chapter 9a-

Kyo

Kyo cursed at himself mentally for losing to courage to talk to Tohru once again. He tuned Shigure out until he stopped talking and looked like he needed an explination. Kyo opened his mouth, but Yuki took the blame instead. Kyo just stared at him. Was he trying to play the hero or something?

_"I'm going to go work on my homework then." _He watched Tohru go to her room, wondering if she knew they left their book bags at school.

"I'm going to my room too. I'll call Machi back… She's the only one in Student Council who has a cell phone number I know."

After that, in Kyo's opinion, unnecessary comment (everything was pissing him off), Yuki left too.

"And You?" Shigure asked Kyo. "Why did you-"

Kyo cut him off, knowing he was going to ask about what happened during lunch. He shook his head and said, "I'm going out." He turned around, walked back out the door, and went around to the side of the house, intending to climb onto the roof. He needed to go somewhere that he could think. Alone.

But when Kyo climbed up high enough to see over the top of the roof, he stopped and his mouth dropped open slightly. "What the hell are you doing up here?" Yuki was lying in the same spot that Kyo usually lay.

When he heard Kyo, Yuki stood up. "I can see why you like it up here. It's really peaceful."

"Not now! how did you get up here anyway?!" Kyo was all the way on the roof now. _Damnit!_ He thought. _Now I'm going to have to find somewhere else that I can be alone. In the woods_ _I guess, but then if Tohru tries to find me she'll wander off somewhere and get lost._ Then it occured to him that Tohru getting lost wouldn't be a problem for him anymore the day after next and he shook his head, getting angrier and angrier. The only ways he knew to take get rid of anger was to ignore it and led it build up and build up, but that always led to the second way anyway: Taking it out on someone. Whether it made him feel bad later or not, Kyo always got angry at the wrong people for any reason at all.

Now Yuki was there and he was giving him a damn good reason to take out his anger on him.

Yuki didn't seem to notice how angry Kyo was, or he was just ignoring it. "It's pretty easy from my I'm not going to come up here regularly or anything, so don't worry. i just wanted to talk to you."

"Well I don't want to talk to you, so get away from me, I need to think!" Kyo walked over to Where Yuki was standing, something challenging in his eyes.

"God, you're even more annoying when you're really angry." Yuki took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a minute. Then he opened them and continued, "Your thinking is what I wanted to talk to you about. Stop being an idiot and tell Tohru how you feel. It's obvious to everyone but her and you're worrying her. She thinks something's wrong. It can't be so hard just to talk to her."

"_You have no idea_!" Perfect Prince Yuki didn't have problems. Everyone loved him, he was a boring guy, but his life was easy. Kyo felt something like... Jealousy? And that just made him angrier. He didn't want to be jealous of the damn rat with his freaking easy life.

And before Kyo knew what he was doing, he threw a punch at Yuki and they were fighting. It was a typical fight between them except that Tohru wasn't there to try to stop them and... Yuki wasn't winning.

Kyo wasn't winning either, but for once they were evenly matched and Kyo could tell Yuki knew. He looked frustrated and was actually starting to sweat. So was Kyo, but that was beside the point. Just as he thought he was getting the upper hand, Kyo was on the ground... Or roof rather.

"Stupid," Yuki said, panting and looking down at Kyo with annoyance. "You can't beat me."

Kyo stayed silent, just glaring at Yuki until he left, saying, "Talk to her or I will for you."

_He wouldn't,_ was what Kyo thought. Tohru wouldn't believe him until she talked to Kyo herself anyway.

All his anger faded away to nervousness when he heard her voice "Kyo?" It was now or never.

-Chapter 9b-

Tohru

"Ah! It is you!" Tohru climbed the rest of the way onto the roof and sat down next to Kyo. "Yuki told me you two had a fight and I thought I might find you up here. I wanted to ask you... Is there something you want to talk to me about?"

"No." Kyo said quickly, looking away. "Actually... No. Yes? Um. Yeah there is something." He looked in her direction, but over the top of her head so he didn't have to meet her eyes.

"Yes?" She asked, happy she would finally know what Momiji was talking about.

"I- Well- Do-" He seemed incapeable of forming words like he had been earlier. He took a deep breath and when he spoke again, Tohru was happy it was a whole sentance. "Look. This is really hard for me to tell you, so please just listen until I'm finished."

She nodded and he continued, his voice shaking a little, "Tohru... I love you. I don't- It's not family love- I'm in love with you. I know I don't deserve to be, because I cause nothing but trouble and I'm a monster and all that, but still. It's how I feel." He held up a hand when a stunned Tohru tried to say something. "Hold on, I'm not done yet... I need to know... How you feel about me too, but don't answer right away, just think about it." He took another deep breath, finally met her eyes, tipped up her chin with one hand so she was looking up into his face, and bent down and kissed her gently.

Tohru had no idea what was going on. She knew that Kyo was kissing her and that he just said he loved her, but she was so confused. She didn't know how she felt about him, but she did know as soon as Kyo's lips touched her's, her brain seemed to turn to mush.

When Kyo pulled away, Tohru touched her lips, they were tingling, and said softly, "Oh..." She couldn't seem to work her mouth into a smile or a frown or anything.

Kyo watched her apprehensivly and then an expression Tohru couldn't identify crossed over his face. "I- I-" he stuttered, standing up quickly and heading towards the edge of the roof. He managed to get out, "Sorry," before he climbed over the side and left Tohru sitting alone, still a little dazed.


	10. Chapter 10

Right... I might not be able to update after this for a while, school is getting busy again and I'm going out of town this weekend, so i dunno if I'll be able to update unitl Monday night... I'll try though :-)

-Chapter 10-

Kyo

Kyo was running. He didn't know where to, or how long it took to get there, all that mattered was that he got away from the house.

What was he thinking when he told Tohru how he felt? The only answer that presented its self to him was: He hadn't been.

What had he expected anyway? That she wouldn't be horrified or disgusted or anything like that? He shook his head, unaware of the fact that his legs were numbing slightly from all the running or that if he didn't slow down soon he might collapse.

Kyo finally knew where he was going. He needed to go to a place that he could talk (or not talk) without being judged or being afraid of screwing everything up. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

When Kyo got there, the door to Shishou's house was open as usual, so he had no trouble getting inside, but when he leaned over to take off his shoes, he toppled foreward and knocked over a coat rack with a loud bang. He lay there too exhausted to get up and listened to the approaching footsteps. He must have run the whole way to the house if he was this tired.

"Kyo?"

Kyo looked up into the face of his father figure and managed to get out a, "Sorry."

Shishou smiled, but looked a little concerned and said, "No need to apologize for coming to visit me... Do you need some help up?"

Kyo shook his head and stood up. "Fine... I'm fine," he lied.

Shishou nodded and then hinted, "Did you want to talk to me about something?" He undoubtedly knew about what had happened earlier that day and probably thought that was why Kyo was there. Kyo looked away and shrugged. Shsishou nodded, most likey expecting a response like that. "Well, I was just about to make dinner. Do you want to join me?"

Kyo looked at Shishou dully, feeling like it would be too much effort to show any emotion. "You're cooking dinner? Remember what happened last time?"

Shishou laughd and shook his head. "It's actually leftovers from last night, I didn't cook then either, so it's safe." He took Kyo's arm and led him into the dining room. "You sit and I'll bring it in."

Kyo sat down at the table, rested his elbows on it, and put his head in his hands. He didn't deserve dinner, he shouldn't have come and bothered Shishou. He would listen and offer advice like... Well, a parent... Something he also felt he didn't really deserve, at the moment anyway.

Soon the pleasant smell of something Kyo couldn't place wafted into Kyo's senses. It was pretty obvious that Shishou didn't make it himself just from the great smell.

"It's just beef stew," Kyo heard the noise of a bowl being set in front of him, but didn't bother to look up at the sound of Shishou's voice, "I would have gotten together something nicer."

"Nn..." Kyo didn't really care what the food was, he wasn't hungry anyway. They sat in a silence that wasn't exactly awkward, just... Silent. The only sound was of Shishous's spoon occasionally clinking against his bowl.

But he couldn't take it anymore. It was too hard, being left in silence with his own thoughts. "Why am I so stupid?" Kyo said outloud. He looked up and saw Shishou with his spoon paused halfway to his mouth. He put down the spoon and said, "You should probably tell me."

Kyo shook his head and groaned. "I'm not here because of what happened earlier... I told Tohru... How I felt about her." He finished lamely, not knowing how else to say it without feeling so much pain.

"And... How is that bad news?" Shishou looked a little confused now. Kyo had talked about how he felt about Tohru before and he had always been encouraged to tell her.

Kyo closed his eyes and put his face back in his hands. "You didn't see her face," he said, feeling something strange. Oh, hell no. He was not going to cry. There was no freaking way. He didn't cry in front of other people, no matter who it was, and rarely by himself. It made him feel weak. He managed to get out his next words without his voice breaking or shaking... Much. "She had the same expression on her face that she had when Hatori told her her memory would be erased. She... She was horrified. I told her I loved her and I- I kissed her and she gave me that look, and I ran." Kyo had been thinking about how he would tell Tohru how he felt for so long... When it went like that... Well, he didn't expect her to look at him like that. Even a faked look of politeness or something woud have been better. but horror?

"...Ran." Shishou's voice wasn't accusing Kyo or even asking him a question. He was just thinking.

"I shouldn't have, I know. I'm rotten and stupid and-" He didn't really know how to continue. There was something bad enough to describe himself, but nothing presented its self. His voice was visibly shaking and his hands were a little wet. How did that happen? He was not crying.

They sat there in silence a long while longer. Finally Shishou broke the silence, "I think you should go talk to her and clear things up."

Kyo looked up, he had been rubbing at his eyes to try to dry them (He wasn't crying!), but it wasn't really working. Shishou didn't comment on that, he just kept looking at Kyo.

Kyo shook his head. "I- I- can't." He avoided Shishou's eyes and looked down at soup that was looking a little unpleasant now that it had been sitting for so long.

"Well, you're welcome to stay here until you think you can go back."

Kyo shook his head and took a quick drink of a glass of water he hadn't noticed before. "I think I'll just take a walk and try to go back."

He stood up and met Shishou's eyes again. He was smiling kindly and nodded. "Alright, don't wear yourself out again."

Kyo nodded and hurried towards the door. "Thanks," he said quickly, walking outside, still rubbing at his eyes a little.

He walked around town for a while, not knowing what to do. It was dark now and there was hardly anyone around. He was about to head back when he heard a familiar voice.

"Orangey! Hey! Stop!" Kyo turned around and saw Uo running towards him. "What the hell are you doing out here?"

"Wha-" Kyo looked at Uo blankly, not knowing what she was going on about.

"Tohru came to the store where I work trying to figure out where you went. She was nearly hysterical. You did something or she thinks she did something, _So go back to your house and fix whatever you did!_ She wasn't specific so I'm assuming you screwed up and- Hey, why are your eyes red? Have you been crying?"

"What? No dammit! I was going back anyway, but I don't know why she would be upset," he lied easily enough, but didn't know how convincing he was. He turned around, not wanting to face a livid Uo. Tohru's friends could be veeery protective when it came to Tohru.

Once home, Kyo opened the door quietly, hoping Tohru would be in bed and not waiting for him. He only got half of that.

When Kyo reached the kitchen (he was going to eat since he hadn't since lunch) he saw that Tohru had been waiting, but she was now asleep at the kitchen table, her head resting on her arms, her breathing was deep and even and she didn't even stir when Kyo walked in.

Kyo grabbed a piece of pizza from the fridge, that must have been what they had for dinner, and sat down across from Tohru. She looked so peaceful sitting there. He ate his pizza as quietly as he could and before he knew it, he was asleep too.


	11. Chapter 11

I decided to put in one more Tohru :-)

And I know I said I wouldn't update for a while, but I finished this project for school and now I have some time!

-Chapter 11-

Tohru

"Honda-san?" Tohru awoke to Yuki's soft voice. She sat up and looked around. She couldn't think of a reason Yuki would be in her room, but then she realized she was still in the kitchen.

"I-I was awake!" Tohru stood up quickly and spoke quickly as if defending herself from a crime. "I was just folding laundry and must have fallen asleep." She motioned toward a basket of half folded laundry. "What time is it?"

She turned towards Yuki's concerned face. "Are you feeling alright?" He put his hand to Tohru's forehead and said, "It doesn't feel like you have a temperature, but your eyes are a little bloodshot."

Tohru didn't mention that it was probably because she was crying right before she fell asleep. She was so confused and had thought she did something that upset Kyo, he _ran_ away from her for goodness sake! It was all very overwhemling. "I was just up late last night. Um... Did Kyo ever get home last night?"

"Did he keep you up waiting for him?" Yuki looked over at the table and Tohru saw Kyo sitting with his head burried in his arms.

How did she not notice? "Oh! I see he- Eh?" Tohru stopped and watched as Yuki walked over to the chair Kyo was sitting in and kicked it out from under him swiftly.

While Kyo was falling he hit his chin on the table and woke up with a, "What the freak?" He stopped falling when he fell onto his chair that was now on the ground sideways. "Ow. What the he-" Kyo stopped when he saw Tohru standing on the other side of the table. He looked away quickly and then jumped up and turned to Yuki.

"You're really inconsiderate, Cat." Yuki said, already walking back towards Tohru.

"_I'm_ inconsiderate? You just kicked my chair out from under me!"

Sensing a fight coming up, Tohru said quickly, "I'm going to make pancakes for breakfast. Is that okay?"

Yuki, distracted from Kyo, nodded and smiled. "That sounds great." Kyo muttered something and the walked quickly towards his room, still not looking at Tohru.

Tohru frowned for a second. She had hoped she would be able to talk to Kyo, but he was avoiding her now. She must have really upset him. She sighed softly and then smiled again, saying to Yuki, "I'm just going to go change, then I'll go make breakfast." She walked upstairs and went into her room. After she had changed out of her school uniform, she hadn't changed at all yesterday, she went back downstairs and saw the dining room was now deserted, and, as she saw when she walked in, the kitchen was too.

Tohru opened the fridge to get the milk and other ingredients and saw something that drove Kyo partly from her thoughts. There were fresh strawberries on a shelf. Yuki must have picked them yesterday. Strawberries were always good in pancakes.

Tohru took everything she needed out and put it on the counter. She looked at the food and bowls, ttrying to figure out how to tackle this. Should she put the strawberries on top of the pancakes after they were done, or if she should bake them in. She had decided on baking them in and was making the batter when she heard footsteps. Assuming it was Yuki she said, "Yuki-kun, do you mind if I use the strawberries you picked to-" She stopped when she saw who it was.

Kyo was standing next to her now. He picked up a knife and started cutting the strawberries. "I'm sure he wouldn't," he said quietly, looking like chopping the fruit needed all of his concentration.

Tohru bit her lip, focusing her own concentration on pouring milk into the batter. She knew how she felt about Kyo now and had to tell him before he went and saw Akito. "Kyo-"

"Look, I'm sorry I ran yesterday. It was stupid of me. Nothing new really, for me to do something stupid that is, but... I guess I just shouldn't have told you how I feel at all. I understand why you were horrified or whatever." Kyo spoke quickly, like he was afraid he would lose his nerve if he slowed down. He still wasn't looking at Tohru.

Now Tohru was even more confused. Kyo thought she was horrified that he loved her? She finally knew what she had been feeling, but couldn't place it until Kyo said how he felt. "But... But I'm glad you told me," Tohru finally said, not looking away from the bowl with the mix in it. "Because... I love you too."

"You- huh?" Tohru looked over at Kyo. He was looking at her too and looked very confused. "But. you looked so... So disgusted or something. God, I'm such an idiot!" He looked away again, his confusing turning to anger, at himself most likely.

Tohru shook her head quickly. "I was just confused. I'm sorry I should have said something then... But I didn't realize right away..." She heard a door open somewhere and the faint sound of voices, but didn't think anything of it. And suddenly they were about to kiss again. This time, Tohru was happy she could tell what was going on. As soon as their lips touched, Tohru forgot everything again, except one thought that had been nagging at her since they talked last night. _You're going to forget all this,_ she kept thinking.

And then, she couldn't help it, Tohru started crying. She didn't want to ruin this great moment, but she couldn't stop herself.

Kyo pulled away a little, but their faces were still close together. "Are you okay? What's the matter." He looked a little alarmed.

"I- I'm sorry," she said, trying to blink away the tears, "I just can't help but think that you have to go see Akito and you're going to be in trouble for punching him. And then... And then I'm going to forget everything." She looked at Kyo miserably, still sorry that she had to pick _then_ to start crying.

Kyo frowned and nodded. "I know..." He said softly. "But, hey, I'll be fine. He can't do anything horrible to me." But he looked a little doubtful. He opened his mouth to say something but instead a pleasant voice inturrupted.

"Am I inturrupting something?"

Kyo and Tohru sprang away from each other and, looking embarrased, they both said, "No!" At the same time. Tohru wiped her eyes quickly and looked over to see a slightly amused looking Shishou in the doorway. "He- Hello Shishou-san." She said quickly, going back to the pancakes. "We were just making breakfast. Would you like some pancakes?"

Shishou smiled and shook his head. "No thank you I just ate. I wanted to stop by and see how everything was going." He looked over at Kyo and Kyo's face reddened a little more.

"Why do you have to be so nosy," he muttered, starting to chop strawberries again.

Shishou just laughed and turned away again. "I'll be going then. Maybe you two could come over for dinner later."

"Only if you don't cook!" Kyo called to the retreating Shishou.

Once he was gone, Tohru poured some batter into a pan and put it on the stove. "Like I was saying," Kyo said, sounding a little uncomfortable, "Everything'll be fine. And maybe after, you know," he was referring to Tohru's memory being erased of course, "we could still all hang out. It might be fine if you see you if you don't come home with us, and me and Yuki could just be extra careful around you."

Tohru knew Akito wouldn't allow that. Even if he did, it might be hard for Kyo and Yuki to see her when she didn't know their secret and all they had been through together. They cooked in a sad silence for a few minutes then Kyo said, "But, you know, as much as I hate to say it, Momichi was right. We shouldn't be sad until at least tonight after I get back from seeing Akito."

Tohru looked over at Kyo and smiled. It really did look likehe didn't want to agree with something Momiji said. His face was set in a grammace the whole time he was talking, but then he smiled and shrugged. "Do you want to go to Shishou's for dinner?"

Tohru nodded quickly. "Oh, yes! That was very kind of him to invite us."

Kyo lauhed and shook his head. "He's probably going to make you cook again."

"Oh, I don't mind!" The mood considerably lighter, they finished making breakfast.


	12. Chapter 12

I know this one is kinda lame and took forever, sorry! I'm having writer's block... The next ones should be good:-)

-Chapter 12-

Kyo

_Tohru_. Kyo thought her name in the same exasperated voice he would have said it in out loud after she did something totally absentminded. He couldn't help but smile a little. She never minded that she was always stuck cooking dinner wherever she went, she never minded doing so many chores, she was just always ready to help. She never thought about herself.

"Ah! We're finished!" Tohru slid the last of the pancakes onto an already full plate and picked it up to take to the kitchen, but Kyo, the picture of her stumbling and spilling food everywhere entering his mind, took it from her quickly.

"I'll carry it," He said, smiling at her and hoping she thought he was just being nice. It seemed to work, because Tohru smiled back and said, "Thank you, Kyo-kun." Nothing seemed to be different now that their feelings were out in the open and he was happy about that. He wasn't exactly an expert on how to act in relationships... his 'relationship' with Kagura _did not_ count.

"What is that wonderful smell?" Kyo heard Shigure's annoying drawl as soon as Kyo and Tohru entered the dining room.

"Kyo and I made pancakes," Tohru said happily. Then her hand flew to her mouth. "We forgot to set the table."

"I'll take care of it, Honda-san," Yuki said quickly, walking into the kitchen. Kyo sighed to himself, knowing that he had to go and talk to the rat. It was partly... thanks (he hated even think that word in the same sentance with Yuki) to him that he talked to Tohru. Kyo put the plate full of pancakes on the table and went to find Yuki.

When Kyo got into the kitchen, Yuki was about to walk back into the dining room. "Hey," Kyo said uncomfortably, blocking Yuki's way to the door "I wanted to, uh... For, er, motivating me to talk to Tohru, th-" He paused, trying to figure out the least painful way to thank him. He couldn't say thank you. "I owe you one."

"What was that?" Yuki had a small, sort of amused smile on his face.

Kyo grit his teeth and repeated, "I. owe. you. one." He paused after each word to make sure Yuki got it.

Yuki just laughed, nodded, and walked back into the kitchen.

Kyo followed, grumbling something unintellegable under his breath, sat down in a nearby chair across from Tohru who was smiling contentedly... Until Shigure spoke again.

"Hatori is coming at five to pick you two up, Kyo, Yuki."

And just like that, Tohru's smile dropped into a frown. Feeling the urge to leave the room, like Kyo always did when trouble arose. "I... I'll go call Shishou and tell him we need to change our plans." He stood up quickly and walked to the living room.

After a short conversation with Shishou, Kyo walked back into the kitchen where everyone was eating except Tohru. When she saw him she smiled and said in a voice that seemed too happy for the situation, "So what's going to happen?"

"We're going over to Shishou's for lunch around noon. Is that okay?"

Tohru nodded quickly and said, "Yes, that sounds great." She began eating when Kyo sat down and Kyo held back a small smile, she was waiting for him. Tohru was always the polite one.

Breakfast passed quickly, mostly in silence. Afterwards, Tohru went to finish the laundry, Yuki had to go the school to take care of some student council buisiness, and Shigure went to... do whatever it is that Shigure does. Kyo buisied himself with doing the dishes, taking a walk, and reading until it was almost 11.

"Helloooo everyone!" An annoying voice entered Kyo's senses and he looked up to see a happy Momiji bounding into the room.

"Ah, hell," Kyo muttered and closed his book. "What are you doing here?"

"I just came to see how everything is." Momiji winked and grinned.

Tohru walked in just as Kyo stood up and growled, "Why is everyone so damn nosy?"

"Hello, Momiji!" Tohru said happily, then turned to Kyo, looking a little confused. "What's the matter, Kyo?"

"Nothing, it's time for us to go." Kyo walked over to Tohru, grabbed her hand, and started pulling her out the door.

"Ooh la la!" Momiji said teasingly. "Tohru and Kyo sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"Shut up!" Kyo pulled Tohru along faster, gritting his teeth and trying to resist the urge to go and kill Momiji. His happy go lucky, over the top excitement, always pissed Kyo off.

Behind him, Tohru was giggling quietly. When they were far enough away to just hear the fading of Momiji's laugh ("Nya ha ha!") Kyo took a breath and said gruffly, "Sorry, but you know how I get around him."

Tohru, still laughing a little, said, "It's alright, are we going to Shishou-san's house now?"

Kyo nodded, then realized that he was still holding Tohru's hand and let it go, blushing slightly. Tohru giggled again.

It was a short trip to Shishou's house and when they got there, Shishou came to the door holding a spoon with red sauce dripping from it. "Hello, Kyo, Tohru, you two are early."

Don't tell me your cooking?!" Kyo didn't bother with hello, he just ran to the kitchen where a lump of something that looked like noodles was boiling in a pot. Kyo let out an exasperated sigh. "Why in the world would you try to cook?" He turned the heat on the stove down and poked the lump with a nearby fork.

Shishou walked up behind him, Tohru walking next to him, and laughed. "I thought it would be nice. I also made the sauce."

"Is that what's burning?" Tohru asked softly, pointing to another pot.

Kyo shook his head and pulled the pot off of the stove. "When are you going to that you should never ever cook, Shishou?" He shook his head, pouring the ruined sauce down the sink.

"It seems never," Shishou said cheerfully, walking over to the other pot on the stove next to where Tohru was already looking at blob of noodles.

"Um," Tohru said, poking the noodles with the same fork Kyo had used. "We could probably still eat this is we... Uh, cut it up..."

"Fine, fine," Kyo pulled the pot off the stove, used a large spoon to pull out the lump of noodles and looked at it for a second. "How did you manage this?"

Shishou laughed and handed him a knife. "I suppose you don't even trust me to cut it up."

"No," Kyo said, doing it himself. "You'd probably mess it up somehow."

After Kyo finished cutting the noodles and then Shishou pushed him away from the counter and said, "I'll bring everything out. You and Tohru can wait in the kitchen. I think I can handle carrying plates."

"Maybe..." Kyo said doubtfully, but he went into the dining room with Tohru anyway.

"That was so nice of Shishou to try to make lunch for us," Toru said happily, it seemed like she wasn't even worried about Kyo and Yuki going to see Akito... Or just wasn't showing it.

"Yeah, he tried," Kyo rolled his eyes. Shishou was good at many things, but nothing related to the kitchen.

"Kyo..." Tohru suddenly said his name quietly, but she said it like there was something important she had to ask him. "Can I ask you something?"

"Huh? Sure."

"You said that there would be... Consequences for punching Akito. Do you... Do you think they'll be really bad? I don't want anything to happen to you." The last part was rushed like she was nervous to say it.

Kyo was silent for a minute then lied, "I don't think it'll be too bad." Tch. Yeah right. Of course they would be bad, Akito had an awful and unpredictable temper. It would take some serious mercy from God (No pun intended) for him to get out without having to go to the hospital for a while.

But the lie seemed to satisfy Tohru. She smiled a little just as Shishou came out. He was balancing three plates and a bottle of something precariously in his arms. "I found some soy sauce," Shishou said as he put down he plate without spilling anything somehow.

The three ate in silence, as most of the meals had been lately. As they were about to leave, Shishou pulled Kyo aside.

"Kyo..." He said slowly. "Don't do anything... Unsensible tonight. I know how unstable Akito can be and don't want you to get hurt."

Unstable. That was a good word to describe him. Kyo smiled slightly and said, "Don't worry, I won't." He didn't know if this was a lie or not. It really depended on the situation.

But, like his lie to Tohru, it seemed to work. Kyo and Tohru headed back home where the only thing that waited for them was waiting until 5.


	13. Chapter 13

Three more chapters I think... Sorry this isn't the best one... The next one WILL be good though!

Oh, and sorry it's short :-)

Hatori

"Hello?"

"Ah! Tori-san, they're back!" Shigure's loud and chipper voice increased Hatori's headache. If he knew Shigure was calling, he might have let the machine pick up. Not to be mean of course... Shigure was his friend, but the mix of guilt and anxiousness he was feeling was making him nearly sick and he did not want to have to deal with Shigure's immiturity.

"Great, thanks. I'll be over soon." Akito had told Hatori to bring Kyo and Yuki to the main house sooner than 5, it seemed he just couldn't make up his mind. It was better this way maybe... Hatori didn't want to take them to see Akito. Well, Hatori doubted that anything bad would happen to Yuki, but he would get punished in some small way, but Hatori was more worried about Kyo. He didn't know what Akito had planned for Kyo. Would he go so far as isolation early? But, anyway, it would probably be better to just get it over with. And Kazuma would never let that happen without a fight.

And then erasing the Honda girl's memory was a totally different story. It was awful when he had to erase Kana's memory, and Yuki's friends. Tohru was connected to all of the zodiac members, not just him or Yuki and this was only going to end badly for everyone.

Except for Akito maybe.

"It is _so cute_, 'Tori. They're holding hands and- Hey you two lovebirds, how was lunch?" Hatori could picture Tohru and Kyo's faces as they answered Shigure's question.

_Leave them alone, _Hatori thought, because saying it out loud wouldn't do anything.

"What?!" He could make out Kyo's voice, he was probably glaring at Shigure. "Lovebirds? What garbage are you spewing now?"

Hatori heard Tohru giggle and say, "Shishou-san tried to make us lunch."

"Ah. So it was a complete disaster?" Most of the Sohma's knew of Kazuma's cooking skills... Or lack thereof.

"No! It was fine!" Kyo was miffed. "I'm going to my room."

Hatori decided it was time to break in, "Shigure, tell them I'm coming over now... As soon as I find my keys." He added the last part in an undertone, looking under a few papers on a nearby table.

"Yes, sir! Don't go anywhere, Kyonkichi (_"Don't call me that!"_), Hatori's coming over now."

"Now?" Yuki's voice joined the mix now. "It's only 2:30."

Tohru and Kyo started protesting too, so Hatori sighed and just said, "I'll be over in a few."

The drive (his keys were in the door) was short. Hatori could have walked to give them some more time, but it wasn't like after this Yuki, Kyo, and Tohru would never see each other again. Tohru's memories weren't getting erased until the next night... Or day... Depending on how Akito felt. They would have all of tomorrow together, that is, Yuki and Tohru might. Kyo being well enough to spend the whole day concious depended on how angry Akito got.

"Hatori, can we please just stay another hour?" Yuki was frowning and looking at Hatori.

_Oh joy_, more guilt. Hatori sighed, they all knew that when Yuki and Kyo went to see Akito, this was all real. If they just kept putting it off, they could just pretend this whole thing wasn't really happening.

"We have to go now," Hatori said reluctantly. "Akito's orders," he added.

Tohru, not surprisingly, was nervous. She was looking back and forth between Yuki, Kyo, and Hatori. She gave Kyo and Yuki a kiss on the cheek and then said, her voice wavering a little, "Come home safe." Hatori couldn't help notice that she was looking mostly at Kyo when she said it.

"Yeah, you two. We can't have you coming home in bodybags- Er, just kidding!" Hatori rolled his eyes as Shigure tried to amend his mistake. Tohru's frown deepened and Yuki and Kyo shot him glares.

Kyo sighed, bent down to Tohru's ear, and whispered something. Whatever he said seemed to make Tohru feel better. When he pulled away, she smiled and nodded.

"Let's get this over with," Kyo muttered, leading the way out of the door.

When Hatori, Kyo, and Yuki were back in the car, Yuki asked, "What did you tell her?"

Kyo was quiet for a minute then answered, "None of your business."

"You lied, didn't you. You told her everything would be alright?" Yuki's voice was almost challenging. Hatori sighed again. They were always doing anything to get each other angry... But Yuki was probably right.

"Like I said, it's none of your business."

They sat in stony silence for the rest of the ride, but it was better than Yuki and Kyo yelling at each other.

When they reached the main house, Hatori took them to Akito's room, and Hatori was about to leave, something stopped him. Maybe Shigure and Ayame were finally affecting him, or maybe his curiousity just got the better of him, but whatever it was, he stopped and stayed to eavesdrop.

"I'm glad you two came to see me." Akito's voice was calm and... Friendly. But this was just the calm before the storm.

There was a mumbling that sounded like, "Did we have a choice?"

"What was that, Kyonkichi?"

"N-Nothing." Kyo didn't seem to have the same defiance he had earlier when he punched Akito.

"That's what I thought. Now, we need to discuss what happened yesterday." Akito's voice got softer, a sure danger sign.

To Hatori's surprise, Kyo spoke again. "It was my fault, obviously. All of it."

"You're taking all the blame?" Akito sounded a little surprised too.

"Uh-huh. Um, I got in the way of Tohru and that's why I transformed, and Yuki didn't stop me from punching you because I did it too fast."

There was a sort of foreboding quiet and then Yuki broke it.

"Wha-"

Akito inturrupted, "I see... You and I need to chat, Kyonkichi."

Hatori got up, he didn't want to hear Akito and Kyo 'chat.' If anyone got hurt someone would come and get him. Just as he turned a corner he heard Akito say, "You can wait outside, Yuki."

This was not going to end well.


	14. Chapter 14

Kyo

Yuki nodded and stood up, giving Kyo a confused glance. "Debt repaid," Kyo mouthed.

Yuki shrugged, nodded, and left the room, looking one more time at Akito.

Yes, the only reason Kyo took _all_ of the blame was because he didn't want to owe that rat anything. And now he didn't, so all was well... For the moment anyway.

"So you decided to take all of the blame? Why?" Yes, yes, it was so out of character to defend Yuki, Kyo knew he would have to give Akito some kind of explination.

Where had all of his courage gone? That day at the school he hadn't felt scared at all, but now, as much as he hated to admit it (even to himself), he was terrified of Akito. Akito's calm outward appearence was making Kyo nervous, Akito always was very calm and quiet before he exploded. The fear was from the way Akito had always treated him (and every other member of the Zodiac for that matter)

Kyo looked down at his knees, he was kneeling, and answered, "Because it is all my fault."

"That's right, my little monster." Akito turned Kyo's face so he was looking at his. Kyo didn't like the unpleasant smile on his face- Akito was going to enjoy whatever was coming up. "It's your fault that Tohru-chan's memory is going to be erased."

"_Don't call her Tohru-chan like you're her friend!_" There it was again, Kyo summoned up some anger. It only seemed to come when defending Tohru was involved.

But his anger dissapeared when Akito kicked him in the chest. Hard.

"Don't talk to me like that," he hissed while Kyo clutched at his stomach.

"Right," Kyo said, wincing. "Sorry."

"As you should be," Akito said sweetly, sickeningly. "But... You do realize it's your fault, yes?"

Kyo nodded, but said, "Do her memories have to be erased? This wasn't her fault. She never did anything wrong." That earned him another kick, for questioning Akito most likely.

Kyo wanted to hate Akito so much- No. No, he couldn't hate God, could he? No, of course not. And whatever God said was true. Always.

"Yes. She's just a liability. And do you know why this is your fault?"

There were a lot of reasons, probably some that Akito could think of that Kyo couldn't. "I... I'm a stupid person who screws everything up? But she's so careful, punish me extra, just don't make her forget." He wouldn't drop the subject of Tohru's memories.

"Almost. You're hardly a person. Could you even call a _thing_ that turns into a cat and a hideous beast a person? No, you're more of a demonic monster. And I will punish you extra, but she's still going to have her memories erased."

Of course he was. A moster- But... When he was with Tohru he felt different... Human even. Something about her made him feel worth something. It was just her nature, her natural love for everyone that made him think he was someone, not something like he was told by Akito everytime Kyo saw him.

Kyo looked up at Akito's cruel face and suddenly he was having an epiphany. A God wouldn't be so much like a devil. Akito didn't deserve the respect and love (or something of that sort) that everyone showed him.

"Don't look at me like that!" Kyo felt something hit the side of his head. Was it a rock? It definatly felt like a rock. Kyo probably should have looked away from Akito, that's what it sounded like Akito wanted, but he was too wrapped up in his epiphany to actually do it.

Kyo wasn't a monster... Even if he did occasionally turn into one, that could be controled and he was still a person... Maybe a socialy awkward person and a person seriously lacking common sense, but, to the contrary of what Akito thought, he was still a person. That say when he transformed into his 'true form' and Tohru followed, she had shown him that.

"No..." Kyo said, though it was a little hard to get out since Akito had hit him with whatever it was on the jaw and it hurt quite a bit.

"No, what?" Akito had the strangest expression on his face. Kyo couldn't place it... And he was indeed holding a rock.

"I'm not a monster." How did he not realize before? Of course he was a person. If anyone was a monster it would have to be Akito.

"Don't look at me like that!" Why was he saying that again? Look at him like what? He was just looking... And then he was seeing stars, spots, and all kinds of colors. Akito was hitting him again, but Kyo wasn't sure with what this time, but it did hurt _a lot_.

"Stop!" Kyo covered his head with his arms, hoping to sheild himself from some of the blows. It didn't work. He had been expecting this, even though he knew now he didn't deserve it, but it was to be expected from Akito... But this seemed like a different reason than what happened yesterday.

When Akito finally stopped, Kyo was lying on his side with his eyes closed, almost afraid to move, and wondering if he was even able to. He knew that he was bleeding in more than one place, but couldn't tell where.

"Fine! She can keep her precious memories!" Akito gave him one last kick in his chest (for good measure?), making him cough up something wet and metallic tasting. Blood? He hoped not.

He heard Akito's footsteps go to the door and slide it open. "We're done, Yuki. Be sure to take the trash out with you, or I'll have to dispose of it myself when I get back."

Did he say what Kyo thought he said? Tohru could keep her memories? He wouldn't question, but he had to tell Hatori... But he didn't think he'd be able to get up if he wanted to.

"Oh my God. K-Kyo?" Yuki sounded actually worried. Was it that bad? "We have to get you to Hatori."

Why couldn't Hatori just come there? Kyo meant to ask, but all that came out was a soft groaning sound and then he started caoughing up whatever it was again.

"Don't try to talk," Yuki said hurridly. Suddenly Kyo felt himself being dragged up into a standing postion. His body was definatly refusing, it was all but screaming in protest. He tried to say something, but once again he couldn't. "Uee," Cough cough, "N." Was all he could get out for 'Put me down.'

Oh, and now Yuki expected Kyo to walk soemwhere? That was not going to happen. The only reason he was standing was because he was leaning up against Yuki.

"You can't stay here, if Akito comes back he'll kill you or something." Why did Yuki care so much anyway? This whole thing was stupid. It would be easier and probably less painful just to lay there and let Akito come and kill him. But then he remembered. Tohru. He had to tell Hatori that she didn't have to have her memories erased.

So, thinking about Tohru, Kyo managed to walk a few steps, but then had to stop again- It was too painful.

"Ayame!" Yuki said in a relieved voice. No. Kyo didn't want to be around Ayame or have Ayame help him. He didn't want Yuki's help either, for that matter.

"Hello Yuki! I was just on my way to see-" Ayame stopped short, no doubt seeing Kyo (He wouldn't know, he hadn't bothered opening his eyes yet.) "What happened?!"

"I don't know but can you help me get him to Hatori?" Didn't Kyo get a say in any of this?

Apparantly not. He felt himself being lifted up of the ground which was almost as painful than having to walk himself. After being jostled around for a few long, antagonizing, Kyo heard a knock on a door and then Ayame's voice:

"Tori-san, get out here!"

There was the noise of a door handle turning anf Hatori's voice saying, "What is it, Ayam-" He also stopped short when he saw Kyo. "He's going to need to go to the hospital. I can't take care of this here."

Finally Kyo managed to get out a full word. "Tohru," he coughed out.

"Okay, he's coughing up blood. We need to go now. Ayame, Yuki, you two go and get Tohru and Shigure. I'll take Kyo to the hospital." Hatori took Kyo, no one seemed to care that _he didn't want to be carried around_. And he didn't want Tohru to see him like this. She was worried before and he told her everything was going to be alright.

"Can do!" Said Ayame and they went their seperate ways.

"Tohru," Kyo managed to say again.

"Their going to get her," Hatori told him. But that wasn't it! Hatori didn't understand. Kyo tried (and failed) to tell him again a few more times, and finally slipped out of conciousness.


	15. Chapter 15

Huh... Sorry this one took so long... I don't want it to end- Writing this is a lot of fun :-) Well, one more after this!!

Tohru

Tohru was a basket case, she would admit it too. Even though Kyo told her several times that everything would be fine and he wouldn't be hurt too bad, she was still so worried. She wanted to belive that he and Yuki would come home completely unharmed, but she couldn't. And it would be all her fault.

_"If anything happens to Kyo, it's your fault,"_ Akito had said. Of course, it couldn't really be Tohru's fault. Everything had been an accident, but she couldn't help think it was true. When Akito said it, the look in his eyes made it clear that he believed it was Tohru's fault, and he was their God after all... Wouldn't he know whos fault it was...?

"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be fine!" Shigure's voice seemed overly cheery, and that worried Tohru even more, but she just nodded and wandered off without a word, hoping that there was some housework she could find to keep her busy.

It was too early to make dinner and Shigure had already eaten lunch so cooking was out. Tohru started cleaning the bathrooms, but the scrubbing didn't take up enough of her concentration to stop from thinking.

Tohru thought that Yuki would be able to get out without to much harm since he hadn't really done anything wrong, even Akito had to admitt that... But Kyo... She shook her head, trying to concentrate on cleaning the bathtub, but failed miserably- Her mind kept wandering...

Would Akito see Yuki and Kyo seperately or 'talk' to them both at once? Would Kyo be okay? That was the thought that kept runing through her mind.

"I think that's as clean as the tub is going to get."

"I-I'm sorry! My mind just drifted off, but I was paying attention!" She blinked a few times and then realized what she just said to Shigure didn't make sense. "I mean... Um..."

Shigure smiled and nodded. "Will you go and get me some stamps from the Post Office? It'll give you something to do." He pulled a few dollars out of his pocket and held it out to her.

Tohru nodded, stood up, and took the money, but then stopped. "But... What if Kyo and Yuki come back while I'm gone?"

Shigure smiled again and said, "Then you'll have a... Nice surprise waiting for you when you get home."

Tohru nodded again and tried to muster up a smile. "I'll be back soon."

As Tohru walked down the street she couldn't help but wish she was back at home waiting for Yuki and Kyo. She had to be there right when they walked through the door and wanted them to tell her what happened immeditely. She knew (or thought at least) that that was a selfish thing to think, but she couldn't help it- She couldn't think of anything else besides what was happening to them.

"Tohru!" Tohru turned to see Uo-chan and Hana-chan a ways behind her, waving and smiling.

"Hello!" Tohru called back, managing a small smile and walking over to them.

"What's the matter, Tohru-chan? You look worried." Hana looked at her with some concern.

"Yeah," Uo said while giving her a hug. "Orangey didn't do anything to upset you, did he?"

"N-No!" Tohru said quickly, shaking her head. "It's just..." She didn't know if she could tell them this...

"Come on, spill. We know everything already."

Hana nodded at Uo's statement and added, "And if we don't know, we should."

So, after Tohru told them she was going to the post office, they walked and she talked. Explaining everything took a surprisingly short amount of time, when they got to the post office she was already finished.

Hana and Uo didn't say anything, and before they had a chance to, they heard a loud voice, "There she is!"

"I told you I told her to go to the post office!" The second voice sounded like Shigure's. There was a screeching of breaks and then a car pulled up right next to Tohru and her friends. One hand still on the post office door, Tohru turned around and said happily, thinking that they were all back, "Hello, Shigure-san, Ayame-san, Yuki-kun... But where's Kyo?"

Now that Tohru looked closer, she saw that they all looked upset, Yuki most of all. She walked towards the car and said, not so happily this time, "Where's Kyo?"

"He..." Yuki began, but Ayame cut him off. It worried Tohru how serious he looked.

"You should probably just get in."

"I- But- Alright." Tohru had the feeling that something bad happened. Something that made Ayame serious and Yuki worried. If he was worried about Kyo then something was seriously wrong. "I'm going to go," She turned back to Hana and Uo and they nodded, both giving her a hug.

The car ride was silent. Not a nice silence, a heavy silence that Tohru couldn't stand.

"What's going on? What happened to Kyo?!"

_"If anything happens to Kyo, it's your fault."_

"He... Got hurt..." Judging from Yuki's voice, it was worse than just getting hurt. "Akito went berserk I guess. I wasn't in the room, I as down the hall, but afterwards... I don't know, I've never seen him hurt anyone so bad." He must have seen Tohru's horrified expression because he said quickly, "He- he should be fine though... I mean I would assume... But, I don't think I can call Akito God anymore... I'm not helpiing, am I?"

There was a sort of Mm-hmming noise from Ayame, but after Yuki finished talking about what happened to Kyo, she had zoned out. She felt so guilty, she started this whole thing! And no, he wasn't helping, but she didn' tell him that.

"Honda-san?" Tohru blinked and looked up at Yuki who had tappped her on the shoulder. "We're here."

Tohru got out of the car quickly and said, "Okay, good... The hospital?" She had been expecting to get out at the main house, _not_ the hospital. It had to be really bad if Hatori couldn't treat him at his house...

Yuki nodded and said again, but even more uncertainly this time, "He should be fine..."

As they walked to the door, Tohru lagged behind the others a little, wanting to see Kyo, but afraid of what she would see, and when they almost reached the door, someone grabbed her shoulder and stopped her. Turning, Tohru saw someone she would rather run away from than talk to. Akito.

"Wh...What are you doing here?" Tohru felt so guilty that she had forgotten to be angry with Akito, but now that he was here she remembered. This was at least a little bit Akito's fault, even if it was mostly her own. She was hardly ever angry, so it took a little while for the anger to build up.

"It was obvious Hatori was going to have to take the cat to the hospital, so I thought I'd come here and wait for you so we could talk." Akito had an amused smile on his face and was still holding onto Tohru's shoulder, to make sure she didn't walk away?

"Let go!" His grip was surprisingly strong.

"Honda-san?" That's right, Yuki, Shigure, and Ayame were still there. "Hey, get away from her!" It was Yuki talking.

Akito just smiled, took the back of Tohru's head in his hand, and pulled her towards him so her ear was next to his mouth. "Kyo's going to die and it's your fault. You're the cause of all of this." He spoke quietly enough that only Tohru could hear him, but his message was clear. Tohru stopped struggling and her eyes widened a little. Did he say _die_?

"D-D-Die?" She said it as quietly as Akito had spoke and cooperated numbly when Yuki pulled her out of Akito's grip. He looked like he was ready to fight Akito- he was probably worried he was going to hurt Tohru too.

But Tohru didn't notice. What if she was too late? What if she didn't get so say goodbye? "We...We have to go inside now." She was fighting a losing battle against tears.

There was a laugh as she wiped at her eyes and turned back towards the door, a soft crunching noise, then silence.

"You know," Ayame broke the quiet, "it's not as impressive the second time someone does it." Tohru could only assume that Yuki punched Akito too, but she couldn't be bothered to look.

_Kyo is going to die. Kyo is going to die. Kyo is going to die. IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!_ That was all Tohru could think. She let out a small whimper and put her face in her hands, feeling like she was going to be sick.

"Honda-san..." She felt a hand on her back pushing her gently foreward and she once again cooperated. "What did he say to you?"

Tohru shook her head. he didn't even say a lot, just it was so horrible. If she didn't force Kyo to catch her by falling on him, Akito wouldn't have had to come to the school, Kyo wouldn't have felt the need to protect her and wouldn't have punched Akito, he wouldn't have gone to 'talk' to Akito, and he wouldn't be... Dying.

"It's alright, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Yuki's voice was gentle, but it sounded a little... Scared almost.

Tohru didn't realize it, but she was still shaking her head and saying, "It was an accident," softly over and over again.

"Can I help you?" The cheery and loud voice of young woman brought Tohru back to reality. She took her face out of her hands and looked up at the smiling, blond woman had her head cocked to the side slightly and an expression that screamed 'I'm ready to help'.

"Could you tell us what room Sohma is in? Er, Kyo Sohma," Shigure asked, seeming too calm under the circumstances.

"Room 105, this floor," The woman replied cheerfully.

"Thanks." Yuki pushed Tohru foreward again and she walked, still thinking about Akito's words.

_I didn't mean to... It was an accident! But... But it's still my fault. No. Yes. No... Yes._ _But_-

"I'm sorry, no one can see him now- He's in no condition for visitors." Tohru's thoughts were cut short by almost running into a male doctor... Who wasn't Hatori. She hadn't even realized she was trying to go into Kyo's room, but his doctor was stopping her.

"But... But I have to see him!" She had to see him before it was too late.

"Tohru?" It was Kyo's voice coming from inside the room... But it sounded like it hurt to talk and his voice was so weak. "Toh... Toh..."

"Please let me through!" Tohru tried to get past the man again, but he was standing in the doorway. "He's asking for me. Please!"

The doctor's looked at Tohru with a sort of relieved expression on his face. "You're Tohru then?" She nodded quickly and then he stepped aside. "That's... Different. He's been saying your name over and over since he got here and he won't calm down. See if you can. I'll be right back"

Although she was afraid of what she would find, Tohru hurried into the room. Kyo was lying in the hospital bed, looking at the door. Well, Tohru thought he was looking- His eyes were mostly swollen shut. His head was facing in that general direction, anyway. Kyo's face was cut, scratched and bruised, and he had a bandage around his forehead, and there were spots on it where the blood was already leaking through.

"K-Kyo!" Tohru said his name as a small sort of scream and ran over to the bed, kneeling next to it so she was level with Kyo.

"T...Tohru... Your... You..." Kyo reached out and took Tohru's hand, but couldn't be able to tell her what he was trying to say.

"I'm sorry!" Tohru didn't waste any time getting to the apology. "This is all my fault!"

"_What_?" Kyo was looking at her with annoyance... Anger almost. "You... think..." He took a deep breath and then got out a whole sentance. "This isn't your fault at all."

"But I-" Tohru had expected him to be even angry at her, but not for blaming herself.

"No. Akito's fault." Kyo winced as he nodded and before Tohru could reply, the doctor was back.

"I just got back from looking at your X-rays, and you're going to fine, but you have to spend some time here and take it easy for a while after that." Relief seeped through Tohru immedeatly. He was going to be okay? Kyo summed up her general feeling with a:

"Great." Then he looked at Tohru again, took another deep breath, and got out another sentence, "Give me a hug."

With the doctor standing right there? Kyo started to sit, well try to sit anyway, when Tohru was silent, so she stood up and then bent down to hug him- She didn't want him to strain himself and get hurt again, but she did wonder how they were going to explain Kyo turning into a cat to the doctor. As his arms closed around her, Tohru braced herself for the puff of purple smoke but...

Nothing happened.


	16. Epilogue

So here ends this story. It was a good one (I think) and I couldn't have done it (well, it would have taken much longer and wouldn't have been as fun) without of all of you who read it! Thanks for making this so fun to write:-)

Final Chapter- Sappy? Perhaps. Awesome? Of course. Enjoy! xD

Kyo

"Hellooo!" Kyo winced as yet another person entered Shigure's house and slammed the door behind him. Kyo guessed (correctly) that the body that accompanied the high-pitched, drawn out voice was none other than Ayame.

A crash followed soon after Ayame's voice and then a loud, "I'm so sorry! I'll put it back together or buy you a new one! I didn't mean to!" _Oh joy_, Ritsu was here too.

"Was that my lamp?" Kyo rolled his eyes and Tohru giggled as Shigure walked out of the living room and more of Ritsu's apologies could be heard.

There was a party going on... Well, getting started anyway. Every formerly cursed Sohma (besides Akito, of course), Hana and Uo (Since they already knew about the curse and were going to sleep over afterwards), and Shishou were invited to a get together at Shigure's. So far Ayame and Ritsu were the only ones there.

After the curse was broken for Kyo, everyone else's curses broke not long after that. From what Kyo could tell, after his, Yuki's, Ayame's, and Hatori's curse broke, everyone else could tell something happened and where (another annoying side effect of the Zodiac Curse, no doubt) and, to the annoyance of the hospital staff, they all showed up to see what went on. When they saw him it was a chain reaction of breaking curses.

"Finally I get to see the hero healed and reunited with his young lover!" Ayame... Glided could be the only word to decribe his graceful, annoying walk... Well, he glided into the room, and took a seat inbetween Kyo and Tohru. They weren't actually sitting far enough apart to allow another person to sit in between them, so Ayame pushed them apart. Ayame dramatically threw his arms around Tohru and announced, "It's broken!"

"Um..." Was all Tohru said, Kyo rolled his eyes as she looked at Ayme uncertainly.

"It has been for days, idiot," Kyo said, detaching Ayame's arms from Tohru, pushing him off of the couch, and scooting back over towards Tohru.

Just as Ritsu (still apologizing about the lamp) and Shigure (assuring Ritsu everything was fine and looking exasparated) came back into the room, there was the sound of the doorbell ringing, and then ringing again, and again, and a fourth time until Tohru stood up and said cheerfully, "I'll get it!"

"You should go help her, Kyonkichi," Ayame said, "Momiji-kun is going to want to hug her and since you seem to be so possesive of your girlfriend-"

"Shut up!" But Kyo stood up and left the others to whatever they were doing (Ritsu, sitting and trying not to break anything, Ayame, calling for Yuki, who was no where to be seen [because he was out getting food, and Shigure, leaving to go and get a broom.) and walked into the hall that led to the front door. Sure enough, he was there just in time to see the door open and a blond haired boy jump through the doorway.

"Tohru!" Momiji yelled, practically throwing himself at her and ending up with his arms around her... So Kyo guessed that Momiji was attempting to hug her.

Kyo gritted his teeth and just looked away, he knew that Tohru didn't mind Momiji's enthusiastic hugs, so he just tried to ignore Momiji's happy squeals and the sound of him jumping up and down and stomping on the floor.

But then he took it too far. "What the- What are you doing?!" Momiji had stopped hugging Torhu and had moved onto Kyo.

"You helped! Even if it was mostly 'cause of Tohru, you helped break the curse!" The break of the curse did nothing to lessen the annoyance Kyo felt towards Momiji. He struggled to push the former rabbit away, but the boy giggled, obviously enjoying annoying Kyo.

"Kyo-kun, the doctor said to take it easy, please don't hurt yourself." Tohru's voice made Kyo struggle less. The doctor did tell him not to strain himself when he left the hospital, but the only reason he let up was because Tohru was asking him to.

Momiji giggled out, "Kyo loooves Tohru!" Before he let Kyo go and pranced into the living room.

"He's loud," An toneless voice said from somewhere behind Kyo. He whirled around and saw Haru standing a few feet behind him.

"Yeah he- Wait, how did you get in here without me noticing?!" Was Kyo that oblivious to everything? Must be, Tohru let out a small laugh and Haru rolled his eyes.

Haru shook his hands in a jazz hands motion and said sarcastically, "I'm _magic_. Now, is my darling here?"

"I hope you're talking about Rin." Gosh it was getting crowded. Yuki had just appeared in the front doorway, holding a few plastic bags filled with something the smelled delicious.

"Perhaps..." Was all Haru said as he walked over to Yuki and took a bag from him.

Everyone else arrived soon after Momiji and Haru. They all wanted to hug Tohru and to his annoyance, Kyo. Everyone was there except...

"Where's Kureno-san?" When Shigure announce that it was time to eat, Tohru asked the question and Kyo paused with his forkful of noodles halfway to his mouth. He hadn't even noticed Kureno wasn't there, he was too busy being uncomfortable with the everyone crammed inside of Shigure's house.

"He decided to stay with Akito," Shigure said through a mouthful of food.

"Wait! Wait! Are you saying that Kureno was a member of the zodiac the whole time?!" An annoyed cry came from Uo. From what Kyo understood, she had met Kureno a few times and liked him or something- Tohru knew more. "Someone could have told me!"

Kyo sighed and tried to ignore everyone as Tohru apologized and he started eating. It was too much happiness and family togetherness in one place for Kyo to relax.

"Does anyone want to play Dai Hin Min?" Kyo had to repress a groan as Tohru suggested the card game. It was after supper and getting later, a few people had left and everyone left was trying to fgure out what to do.

"We have too many people and not enough cards," Kyo said hopefully, only Kagura, Rin, Haru (he left with Rin), and Shishou had left, so nearly everyone was still there.

"Teams, idiot," Uo said simply, and that was that.

"Onee-chan, will you be me and Hiro's partner?" Kisa asked shyly, taking away the chance for Kyo to be on Tohru's team. Ayame, Shigure, and Hatori were on a team of course, Hana and Uo had taken Ritsu into their group, and that just left...

"No way!" Yuki and Momiji were looking at Kyo expectantly, holding the cards that Tohru had dealt them. He was standing next to them, refusing to be on their team.

"_Come on_," Momiji whined, doing nothing to convince Kyo to play cards with him.

"Yeah, Kyo, sit down. We want to play." Yuki was looking up at Kyo with an expression of annoyance clear on his face.

"Then play with just two people!" Kyo wasn't going to play Dai Hin Min with Yuki and Momiji of all people.

"We can't play with only two people, meanie! It's not fair then!" Kyo winced at Momiji's overly happy voice and then shook his head. Yuki had gone back to ignoring Kyo and watching the others make their moves. Everyone else was igoring Kyo too, his argueing with Yuki and Momiji was nothing to get excited about. Everyone except Tohru. She was watching Kyo with a slightly apprehensive look.

"I'm going out!" Kyo had been on edge all evening with everything being so crowded, and this was the last straw. He made his way out of the house before anyone (okay, just Tohru) could stop him and climbed onto the roof, relishing the peaceful silence. With a relieved sigh, he lay down and closed his eyes.

"Kyo-kun?" Kyo cracked his eyes open and saw Tohru's head poking over the top of the roof. He must have dozed off, the sun was starting to go down.

Kyo sat up as Tohru climbed the rest of the way onto the roof and felt a surge of dejavu. At least he wasn't trying to tell Tohru that he loved her this time. "Is the game over yet?" He asked as she sat down next to him.

Tohru shook her head and nodded. "Hana-chan, Uo-chan, and Ritsu-san won." Kyo wasn't surprised, Hana almost always won- He suspected that she cheated with her wave reading ability. "We could have done something else if you wanted," she continued uncertainly.

"It's fine," Kyo said, scooting a little closer to Tohru and putting his arm around her. he loved being able to do that without transforming so he had been doing it often and hugging her, ect. "Sorry I got mad and stormed off, but I was getting uncomfortable with everyone around... You know."

Tohru nodded and rested her head on Kyo's shoulder.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments and then Uo's voice broke it. "Get your pants back on you two, we're coming up."

Kyo didn't move his arm from around Tohru, but when he turned his head look at her, he saw she was blushing. Then, to Kyo's dismay, Uo, Hana, and Yuki climbed up and joied them on the roof.

"Why is everyone coming up here now?!" Dammit! This was Kyo's private space. Tohru could come up if she wanted to, but that was it.

"Well," Hana said softly, "we were bored after everyone left so we decided to spy on you two, but you're not very interesting. So now we're here."

Kyo sighed, "Whatever." He faced forward again and took a deep, contented breath. Despite the fact that everyone was now in his private spot and he still had to deal with the annoyances in the Sohma family, the curse was broken, he was with Tohru, and as Hana said,

"Look at the sunset," Yuki and Uo stopped talking and they all did. While they watched the fading pink and purple light Kyo held Tohru a little closer, and he was truly and absolutely happy.

* * *

-dies of corniness- But I like it xD So, once again, thanks for sticking this out with me! (and sorry this last chapter took forever to come out!) 


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